Bali-Hi Motor Hotel, Phoenix, AZ (restaurant)

Name:Bali-Hi Motor Hotel
Type:motel
Street:1515 Grand Avenue
City:Phoenix
State:AZ
Zip:85007
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
I’m guessing the Bali-Hi Motor Hotel opened sometime in the mid 1950’s. The name, of course, comes from Bali Ha’i, the fictional island from James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.

In the early 1960’s, the hotel swelled from its original 65 rooms to 170 by acquiring the next-door Caravan Inn. During this time the Bali-Hi was basically two hotels operating as one.

What was the Caravan Inn portion was sold in 1968 to a group of doctors hoping to transform the facility into a convalescent home – a plan that apparently never happened. The property operated as The Oasis hotel from 1971 to 1995 and has now been redeveloped as an artist community.

The original Bali-Hi continued at least into the 1970’s -- possibly much later. I do not know its ultimate fate. The building still exists and is currently a location of Teen Challenge, a drug-addiction recovery center.

The Bali-Hi was across the street from the Bikini Lounge.

[ Edited by: kenbo-jitsu 2015-07-27 22:01 ]

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In the days before the interstate freeways, Grand Avenue in Phoenix was a bustling crossroads. Once the I-10 was built, however, it diverted much of the traffic away and the area started to decline.

The photos below are from the Ernest A. and Billie W. Uhlmann Family Archive and are taken from the Modern Phoenix web site. Still more photos are available there.

Finally, tongaroatom previously posted this matchbook here on TC.

On 2015-03-05 15:59, tongaroatom wrote:
Here's a matchbook from the Bali Hi in Phoenix ...